ST. GEORGE, UTAH - Perfection was extended on Wednesday night as California Baptist women's basketball outlasted a late Utah Tech rally in St. George to defeat the Trailblazers 78-69. The win pushes CBU to 7-0 on the season and to the top of the Western Athletic Conference standings as one of three teams at 2-0 in league play. Utah Tech falls to 5-3 on the year and 1-1 in conference.
Chloe Webb entered Wednesday averaging 21 points per game, and she improved on that with 22 more against UT. As she does, she stuffed her whole stat line, grabbing five rebounds and nabbing another five steals. Freshman Khloe Lemon posted a new career-high, bringing 15 timely points to the game on 4-7 shooting from range and chipping in five boards. Filipa Barros is returning to form after missing the opening few games this season, posting a season-highs 12 points, seven rebounds, and three steals. Kinsley Barrington just missed out on her first double-double of the season, putting up eight points to go with a game-high 11 rebounds.
The game opened slow for both teams as they went a combined 5-14 to start the contest. The Trailblazers would shake the rust off first, going on a 14-0 run in just under three minutes to take a significant lead. CBU would answer back with a 6-0 run of their own as Nhug Bosch Duran and Lemon would hit back-to-back threes, but CBU would still reach the end of the quarter trailing 16-11.
Filipa Barros drained a pair of free throws to open the second period to cap the scoring streak the Lancers started at the end of the first at 8-0. Webb came into tonight's game leading all WAC scorers at 21 points per game but was held scoreless in the first quarter. That drought ended in the second period with back-to-back three-pointers before the media timeout. Lemon would put away an easy fastbreak layup with 90 seconds left in the half to give CBU its first lead of the night at 32-31, and a last-second steal and score by
Anaiyah Tu'ua and Barros closed the first half on a 12-0 run.
Tu'ua picked up where she left off, stealing the opening pass of the second half and scoring an uncontested layup to open the third. Strong shooting and even stronger defense paved the way for CBU to build their largest lead of the game, 16 points, in the third quarter.
The Trailblazers were resilient, starting the fourth period on a 9-0 run to get back within four points with eight to go in the game, and a slicing layup from Utah Tech cut the score to a 67-65 CBU lead with five minutes to go. Back-to-back layups from Webb and Tu'ua provided some breathing room for CBU, building that lead back to 71-65 with 2:21 to go in the game. Barros sealed the game with free throws and a layup in the closing seconds.
The Lancers are back in California this weekend but heading coastal as they will face off with the WCC's Pepperdine Waves in Malibu. Game time is set for 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 9.
